Summer 2025: Offered on AST’s Campus in Session 2
Course Description
A study of creation across the Christian Bible, with particular focus on the HB/OT, this course will explore why the topic of creation has been sidelined in biblical studies and biblical theology, and how, thanks in part to the ecological crisis, it is getting new attention. Four major headings in the course are creation, counter-creation, de-creation, and re-creation. Related themes include sea monsters, land, sabbath, the city, wisdom, and praise.
- Prerequisites: BF 1001; RM 1000 or GTR 6000.
- Requirements: Daily readings, daily discussions, a paper or two, a creative presentation. The course includes an arts component.
- Syllabus: Pending for Summer 2025.
Required Texts (Summer 2025)*
The following texts are required. Students are strongly encouraged to purchase their own copies. Library copies that are not reference works will be placed on a 2-hour reserve in the AST Library.
- A Bible, either NJPS or NRSV translation
- There are many editions, and you may already own one that will serve well. If you want a study Bible, I recommend the NJPS or the NRSV editions by Oxford University Press (below).
- NJPS Study Bible: Berlin, Adele, and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds. The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0199978465.
- NRSV Study Bible: Coogan, Michael, et al., eds. New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version. 5th ed. Oxford / New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. ISBN 978-0190276089.
- Beginnings
- Bouteneff, Peter. Beginnings: Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.
- ISBN 978-0801032332.
- Myths from Mesopotamia
- Stephanie Dalley, ed. Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others. Rev. ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
- ISBN: 978-0199538362.
* Please note that textbook selections for my courses often change with each iteration of the course.
Recommended Texts (Optional)
- Davis, Agrarian Reading
- Ellen F. Davis. Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
- ISBN: 978-0521732239.
- Levenson, Creation and the Persistence of Evil
- Jon D. Levenson. Creation and the Persistence of Evil: The Jewish Drama of Divine Omnipotence. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988 (repr. 1994).
- ISBN: 978-0691029504.
- Smith, Priestly Vision
- Mark S. Smith. The Priestly Vision of Genesis 1. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2010.
- ISBN: 978-0800663735.
- Tanner, God and Creation
- Kathryn Tanner. God and Creation in Christian Theology: Tyranny or Empowerment?. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988 (repr. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005).
- ISBN: 978-0800637378.
- Making Sense
- Northey, Margot, Bradford A. Anderson, and Joel N. Lohr. Making Sense in Religious Studies: A Student’s Guide to Research and Writing. 3rd ed. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 2019.
- This title includes basic advice on things like reading religious texts, writing essays and book reviews, making oral presentations, and learning languages. It should help you master fundamental tasks in nearly any course in religion or theology.
- SBLHS2
- The SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd Edition, is the definitive style manual for biblical studies and related disciplines.
- A blog (sblhs2.com) and free Student Supplement (PDF) should cover the issues most common to term papers. The AST library copy is in the reference section at PN 147 S26 2014.
- Serious students of biblical studies will want a copy of their own. Order one from SBL Press or elsewhere online. ISBN 978-1589839649.
- See my resources page for further advice on writing, style, and research.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.